fear is a driving force

As New York City removed the final hurdle for a controversial mosque near ground zero, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg forcefully defended the project on Tuesday as a symbol of America’s religious tolerance and sought to reframe a fiery national debate over the project.

. . . “we would betray our values if we were to treat Muslims differently than anyone else.”

“To cave to popular sentiment would be to hand a victory to the terrorists — and we should not stand for that,” the mayor said.

Grappling with one of the more delicate aspects of the debate, Mr. Bloomberg said that the families of Sept. 11 victims — some of whom have vocally opposed the project — should welcome it.

“The attack was an act of war — and our first responders defended not only our city but also our country and our Constitution,” he said, becoming slightly choked up at one point in his speech, which he delivered on Governors Island. “We do not honor their lives by denying the very constitutional rights they died protecting. We honor their lives by defending those rights — and the freedoms the terrorists attacked.” full article

fear can be an incredibly strong emotion. i am wondering if there is a group trying to ban delis selling knock-wurst in the general vicinity of the wtc site – after all, knock-wurst is german, and hitler was a psychopath, right? and there maybe shouldn’t be any new york owned businesses allowed near the site either because you know timothy mcveigh was raised here and he was a terrorist too – or, does one have to kill more than 168 people in order to warrant a stereotype for people with similar characteristics (ie: being a newyorker)?

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and in the

today . . . .

A Chinatown man was convicted yesterday of a macabre murder — strangling a young woman who’d spurned his advances, then sleeping for two days with her corps. article

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i suppose we should watch for chinese in the area as well. keep your eyes peeled for any buddhist or taoist temples going up anywhere in the vicinity.

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“Stereotypes are devices for saving a biased person the trouble of learning”
– anonymous

may all beings be well, may all beings be happy,
may all beings be free from suffering.

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